Though it was earlier this week, Belkin has rolled out two new lappy bags just in time for MacWorld. The first is the Ceylon Messenger Bag which features a slick look, clean looking strap arrangement with an integrated mobile pocket, and the ability to stand on its own. Its available now for US$50 and takes up to 15.4″ widescreen laptops. The second is the Belkin Sling, a single strap bag which looks like it has several pockets, accepts up to 15.4″ lappys, and is also available now for US$50.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: accessories, MacWorld 2008, mobile

Panasonic and cable giant Comcast have jointly announced that they are preparing Panasonic’s new TZ-LC100 portable digital video recorder, likely only for Comcast subscribers. There is no available information regarding release date or cost, though its equally likely that Comcast may offer some kind of subsidy deal. Aside from being a standard 8.5″ portable DVD player, it also incorporates a 60GB drive which can be synced with DVR shows from your home DVR device.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: CES, mobile, television

ASUS has announced that they are bringing the P527 Smartphone which runs Windows Mobile 6 to the US early this year. Among its claimed features, the P527 sports two features dubbed Travelog and Location Courier, both working with GPS to enable various location-based features. Otherwise, the device features a 2MP camera, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, an FM radio, and works on GPRS/GSM networks. It works on 850, 900, 1800, and 1900 GSM networks. The hardware is based on a TI OMAP 200MHz processor, comes with 64MBs of RAM, 128MBs of ROM, has a microSD slot for additional memory, an integrated SiRF Star III GPS chipset, and a 320×240 color display. Personally, I think it looks like a payphone shrunk down to pocket size, but with this feature set, it might just be nice. Pricing, release date, and carrier information was not released, but we can imagine its likely AT&T or T-Mobile or any of the other GSM-based carriers.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: CES, mobile, news

Lenovo, the company who bought IBM’s consumer computers line, has unveiled a new line of consumer-oriented laptops dubbed the IdeaPad. First up is the Y510, a 15.4″ widescreen lappy which sports an anemic 1280×800 resolution, 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo CPU with a slow 667MHz front-side bus, a reasonable 250GB drive, 2GBs of RAM (4GB max.), an in-built 1.3MP camera, and a Dolby Labs designed sound system. To round it out, the whole thing weighs in at an unacceptable 6.4 lbs. If that’s not enough, there’s also the Y710, a 17″ version, which likely weighs in at 7-8 lbs. The only bright spot in the group is the U110, an 11.1″ ultra portable which won’t be available until March. There are no pricing details as of yet.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: CES, mobile, news

Not long after announcing that FIC had spun off the OpenMoko project, they have announced that Dash Navigation, the makers of the internet connected GPS device, the Dash Express, is powered by the OpenMoko platform. Whether this portends OpenMoko itself going into the GPS market or not is still unclear, though my guess would be that they plan on forging more relationships to expand the brand.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: CES, mobile, news

FIC, the Taiwanese motherboard and OEM gear manufacturer, has announced that they have spun off their OpenMoko open source project into an actual company (ala RedHat). The new OpenMoko group will dedicate its resources to creating Free Open Source Software (FOSS) handheld devices for mobile and wireless uses. While there are no additional details just yet, their initial announcement indicates that they will soon be announcing a partnership with a US-based carrier. Should be interesting. Their first product may very well be their already popular developer platform, the Neo1973.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: CES, mobile, news

Microvision has announced that they have entered into a range of agreements with Asian concerns and Motorola to produce their new PicoP Display Engine for use in mobile applications. The laser-based technology allows very small devices such as mobile phones and PDAs project large, bright, color images through either an in-built projector or an external projector module. There are no details as of yet regarding product availability.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: CES, mobile, news, technology

Palm and Verizon have announced that the carrier-specific version of the 755p is now available. This one features EVDO, a 1.3MP camera, and sports the internal antenna arrangement. Here’s the link for my ZIP. Price is US$349 after a US$100 online discount and with the obligatory 2 year contract extension.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: mobile, news, palm, treo, verizon

UnWiredView has dug up FCC pics from Toshiba’s apparently upcoming Portege E910 and E920 smartphones based on Windows Mobile 6. There’s really not a lot to tell about it, but its certainly big. This also doesn’t mean that Toshiba will announce these devices for the US market. Only time will tell.

written by Tyler Regas \\ tags: mobile, rumor, wm6